


Jezebel

by SafiyaSanura



Category: Death Note
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bordeaux, Eventual Happy Ending, Kink Meme, M/M, Mild Kink, Multi, Other, Possible Controversial Messages/Themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:05:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafiyaSanura/pseuds/SafiyaSanura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In this story, Wammy's is not just a school for geniuses, but for genius gay boys. When L pursues the Kira case, his purpose for pursuing Light isn't to catch a killer, but to gain "fresh blood" for his school/whorehouse. Follow Light in his journey of discovery through the field of his own sexuality. L/Light AUish</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unlucky in Love

_6 years before present_

L Lawliet had been 12 years old when he'd fallen in love. It was his first and only time, and it had ended so disastrously it was probably the reason he’d never done so again.

He still remembered the day it happened quite clearly. Quillish Wammy, his adopted father now known as Watari, had still been working at the time. This meant that they would frequently travel to multiple places all around the world for business purposes. On that particular day, Quillish had been set to give a demonstrative presentation on a new invention in the city of Tokyo, Japan. They’d actually already been there for a week, and L had spent every day of that inside, reading, watching TV, playing video games. So Quillish had eventually kicked him out of the house demanding he get some fresh air and sunlight, for at least an hour.

He’d wound up at a park, figuring it was the kind of place that Quillish would be happy to find out he’d been. L had barely been there for five minutes when he’d spotted _her_ for the first time. She was the prettiest girl he’d ever seen in his life. A few years younger than him, yet carrying a demeanor of dignity and maturity that bellied her actual age. Clad in a baby blue yukata, she’d obviously been trying not to pout as her mother took picture after picture of her sipping tea beneath the cherry blossom trees. It was love at first sight.

L vaguely remembered waiting for an opportunity to speak to the girl, continuing to watch her as he half hid behind a nearby tree so he wouldn’t be caught staring. He’d finally seen his opportunity when the girl’s mother had quickly run off in search of a new roll of film. Heart on his sleeve, palms sweating, knees shaking, and mouth dry, he’d pulled a handful of flowers off a nearby branch and held them out in offering to his one and only love.

“I think you’re the most beautiful girl in the whole world…” he’d whispered, looking away and mentally berating himself for the ultra-corny words. He probably should have been looking though, because if he had he would have noticed small hands closing themselves into fists, tears forming out of the corners of eyes, a face turning red in anger.

L didn’t know what reaction he’d expected from his declaration, a blush, a giggle, a quirked eyebrow; one thing, however, he knew that he hadn’t expected was a fist to the face. There was a small pause, a moment of shock as his back hit the ground, before he’d turned himself around onto his hands and kicked back, hard. Female, or not, as the saying goes: an eye for an eye.

What happened next was a blur of elbows, teeth, and struggling, but before L knew it he was sitting in the waiting room of a hospital with Quillish at his side and an ice pack over his eye. The girl from the park was sitting across from them along with her mother, still shooting death glares at his person whenever she got the chance. Wammy had then proceeded to explain that his very pretty girl was actually a very pretty boy, and hadn’t that just been an absolute bummer.

Still, L looked over to his adopted father in confusion, “but he’s wearing girl clothes” he pointed out.

“It’s my mom’s fault” pretty boy had pouted…and glared, “she’s always loved taking pictures of me in girl’s clothes, it’s because she always wanted a girl, and my little sister is still too young to play dress up with.”

L had tried to comment on the fact that she probably wouldn’t feel the need to do so if he hadn’t looked so much like a girl already, but pretty boy had quickly shut him down and then proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the time they were in the waiting room together.

He’d fumed the entire car ride back, and still, to this day, pouted whenever he thought about the entire encounter. He still had the scar from the stitches over his right elbow to remind himself of the promise he’d made to himself that day to never fall in love again. The reasoning behind such a decision was childish and immature, but it could never be said that L Lawliet wasn’t a stubborn bastard.

As a whole, that encounter probably should’ve clued L in to his true sexuality, but it didn’t. He’d reasoned to himself that the reason that he’d found the boy attractive was because he’d thought he was a girl, and it had nothing to do with the boy himself. So, six months later when a politician’s daughter had given him a “follow me” look after a long afternoon of coy side glances at a London luncheon that he and Wammy had been attending, he’d immediately stood up to follow.

He’d trailed along after her all the way to her bedroom where upon she’d immediately closed the door behind them and slyly asked if he’d ever seen what lay beneath a lady’s skirts. When he’d replied that in fact, he hadn’t, she’d lifted up the hem of her poufy dress and gestured for him to crawl under and see. He’d proceeded to do just that and had been shocked by what he’d seen, girls were _flat_ down there. It had been a disturbing sight for young L, something about it had seemed disgusting and wrong, even though logically he knew there was nothing wrong with it.

That particular experience had shaken him a little bit, and had left him questioning his own attraction to girls. It still never occurred to him that he may like boys though, being as in denial as he was, he just blamed pretty boy for scarring him for life and turning him asexual.

He’d spent a year and a half blissfully oblivious to the truth that was just resting at the tip of his tongue. By that time, L was fourteen and had started his work as the World’s Greatest Detective L, and so Wammy was having an even harder time convincing L to spend time outside and interacting with other people. In a last ditch effort Wammy had ended up entering him into a double’s tennis tournament and by the time L had found out it had been too late to back out, and L had always hated to lose.

His doubles partner was a year younger than him and small and cute, not as cute as pretty boy of course, but cute enough. The younger boy had also been quite shy; L could tell this by the fact that the boy hadn’t been able to look him in the eye without blushing and looking away. L hadn’t thought much about him other than wondering if the boy was any good at tennis with his smaller stature and meek personality. He needn’t have worried however, the boy was good enough to hold his own and his meekness had only served to leave most of the control over their positions and movements to L, which suited L just fine. They’d won the junior tournament in a sweeping victory, and L couldn’t have been more pleased.

After they’d collected their trophies L had begun to walk away, not seeing a reason to stick around now that he’d gotten what he’d wanted, but the boy had grabbed L’s sleeve quickly, halting him in his tracks. He’d fidgeted a bit before quietly asking L if he wanted to go celebrate by getting an ice cream somewhere. L had been in a good enough mood to indulge in social activity, and was always up for ice cream, so he’d agreed. If he’d been paying attention he might have noticed the boy looking a lot happier than was necessary, but he didn’t, because he didn’t particularly care.

They’d walked in a relatively awkward silence towards the nearest ice cream cart. Luckily it hadn’t been that long of a walk seeing as dessert stands are relatively common at sporting events. L had ordered a strawberry ice cream, and his double a mint chocolate chip. They’d eaten in silence as well; the atmosphere was thick with something that L had been too inexperienced to define at the time. The boy sitting beside him was oddly still red in the face even though the match had ended ages ago, not to mention that he was orally ingesting something cold, he was also fidgeting a lot and looked like he was working up the courage to say something.

L was just thinking the boy would never get to the point of whatever he was trying to say when the boy suddenly turned to look at him, and when his gaze lowered to L’s lips the boy had suddenly smiled and leaned over.

“You have ice cream all around your mouth” the boy had giggled leaning even closer. “Do you need help cleaning it up?” he’d questioned slyly. And before L could answer properly the boy’s tongue had suddenly been slowly tracing the corners of his mouth before he’d pressed in closer and had connected their lips.

A set of explosives had immediately rocketed through L’s system, the likes of which he hadn’t felt since he’d first spotted pretty boy, and suddenly L had realized the bitter truth; he was gay.

The kiss had ended almost as soon as it had begun, and L had soon found himself staring into a wide pair of vulnerable looking eyes. And L didn’t have time to process what he was feeling-only knowing he didn’t want it to stop, and before he knew it he was kissing his double’s partner again and again. They’d continued to kiss briefly on and off throughout the next couple of hours; not allowing themselves to go much further than letting their tongues run along the inseam of each other’s mouths.

When they’d finally parted ways, still awkward and shy around each other despite spending the last couple of hours lip locked, L had whispered “thank you” quietly before walking away. And he’d meant it, even though they’d never see each other again, but L was fine with that, he’d gotten what he’d needed out of the encounter; a more thorough understanding of himself.

It wasn’t until L was 16 that he’d had his first real sexual encounter. Sure he’d fooled around with a few more people in the meantime, all boys of course, and he’d gotten a lot further than just kissing with a bit of tongue, but he’d never had sex, and that was the big milestone L wanted to cross.

Unfortunately, being L; the world greatest detective didn’t afford him a lot of time to be lounging around bars trying to pick people up. Not to mention his identity might become compromised should he get involved in a deeper relationship, not that he wanted one anyways; it was just that most people required a more intimate connection with another person before wanting to engage in sexual intercourse. So, eventually he instructed Watari; now acting as more of a butler than a father figure, to hire a prostitute for the evening, after making sure they’d been tested for any diseases, of course. When Watari had raised an eyebrow and asked him what type of prostitute he was looking for, a distant memory of flashing hazel eyes came immediately to mind.

“I’d prefer a very pretty boy” he’d answered with a straight face and with his best attempt at his usual monotone.

“Very well, if there’s nothing else…?” Quillish asked with no sign that the request had seemed unusual to him in any way.

“Nothing, just some protection for the night ahead” he’d answered swiveling his computer chair and re-absorbing himself in his case files.

A couple hours later L was pacing back and forth through a new room he’d rented just for the occasion. For obvious reasons, he couldn’t bring an outsider into a room with all his computer equipment inside it.

L had been half scared and half excited about the upcoming encounter, and it was driving his nerves to a breaking point. Hearing a knock at the door, L’s heart half leapt out of his chest as he slowly made his way over to the door. Upon opening the door he was satisfied with what he saw, or at least partially satisfied. The boy on the other side of the door was certainly beautiful, as pretty boy had been, but he’d been missing the same maturity and intelligence _his_ pretty boy had had.

At that point L had shaken himself out of it; he knew he couldn’t go through the rest of his life comparing every person he was with to his first love, that wouldn’t be healthy. And so L had enjoyed the experience tremendously, the prostitute had known exactly what he’d been doing despite his relatively young age. It was only afterwards, when the two had been sharing light pillow chat that that same dissatisfied feeling had overcome L again. The prostitute had not been particularly sharp; talking about a weekend of drinking with his friends, and not knowing anything about current events and other important issues. It wasn’t an emotional issue; L just wanted to be fucking someone he could connect with on an intellectual level as well.

L had dismissed his own thoughts at the time, realizing it was pointless to wallow in something that was never going to happen. Besides, there were more creative ways he could use to avoid talking to the pretty idiot, L had been thinking whilst grabbing the boy’s hair and guiding his head down lower on L’s body.

Still, the issue of not being able to get everything L wanted continued to bother L even in the present day. It made times when he wanted to get laid, like he was currently, little more than a chore. If he wanted someone smart enough for him, it couldn’t just be casual sex. If he was having casual sex, then the person he was sleeping with wasn’t smart enough for him. It may seem like relatively minor issue, but to L it was very irritating; never being able to get what he wanted completely. He was currently 17 years old, and had spent a year in and out of hotel rooms with various one night stands, never being fully satisfied.

Now, by that point in time L knew he had accumulated quite a bit of money working as a detective, exactly how much he wasn’t sure seeing as he’d never really been in it for the money, only the intellectual challenge. But on that particular day, L decided to look at his accounts, figuring that maybe if he shelled out enough money Watari might be able to find a whore out there with a brain. Instead, what he found in his account was shocking to say the least, he’d already made close to a billion dollars.

L was thinking of all the ways he could spend a billion dollars when the perfect idea for a solution to his dilemma came to him. If he couldn’t find someone tailored to his needs, he’d make one instead. In fact he’d make many someone’s because surely L wasn’t the only intelligent individual in the world in the same situation. There were probably loads of people: doctors, politicians, businessmen; all people who would want and could benefit from having a partner in their life that they could bounce ideas off of, a true equal that they could share ideas with alongside getting whatever sexual desires they’d have fulfilled on a regular basis. He’d make a whorehouse specifically made up of gay geniuses, and it would also be a school where the boys could get the education they’d require for their genius, as well as having special classes where they could hone their craft.

In all actuality, L was aware that he was about to spend an obscenely large amount of money just to satisfy his very selfish desire to get something he wanted, in the _exact_ way he wanted it. But L didn’t care, he’d make it all back eventually, and it’s not as though he’d have any heirs to pass his fortune onto. Not to mention, with the right business acumen, he may even be able to eventually turn a profit off the boys he was manufacturing. He had a feeling he was onto something big.

With a detailed plan set in place inside his head, L hit the speed button function on his phone to call Watari. There was a lot of work ahead that had to be done.

 

* * *

 

 

_In present time_

Seven years later, and L’s dream had finally been realized. His whorehouse, now named Wammy’s house after his adopted father, was already underway and had been for five years. After he’d bought the island Wammy’s was situated upon, it had taken a year of construction to build the ridiculously large house. It should have taken much longer, but L had been willing to pay extra money for more men to get the job done quickly. The construction, the cost of the island, and the few renovations and furnishings they’d been able to do before the first students arrived that September, had quickly ate up a large majority of L’s billion dollars. Which didn’t matter, because as predicted he’d made back that billion in that same year whilst the construction was going on.

The first students had already graduated and Wammy’s was soon due to start its sixth year. For the first time ever it seemed as though they’d reach their yearly quota of number of students, which was forty. They were currently sitting at thirty-nine, one student away and L knew exactly who he wanted that student to be.

Ever since the first time he’d seen Light Yagami’s photograph and personal information in his Kira suspect files, he’d instinctually known two things. The first was that he was quite probably the mysterious killer known to the media as Kira that they were looking for. He seemed just a little bit _too_ perfect to L, and that was what gave him away. The second was that the boy was prime Wammy house material.

Ironically, it was the very same qualities that made him such a good Kira suspect that also made him a perfect fit for L’s vision for Wammy’s. The high intelligence, the easy charm, the good looks, and the creativity to think of a way out of every situation, these qualities were exactly what L was looking for in a Wammy’s student.

His looks were obvious; but still L had had to be sure Light was all of these things, so he’d gone along with his original plan to have the cameras installed in certain police officers homes. L had gotten his first glimpse of his intelligence when he’d realized that Light had somehow figured out there were cameras set up inside his room. He’d seen how creative Light was when he’d found a way to kill people without any access to that information. Finally, he’d realized that Light was charming when he seemed perfectly polite and friendly to his family, yet L had caught a glimpse of Light’s true snarky personality when the bulletin he’d put on the television had come on.

Watari had felt the need to have a talk with L when he’d first seen that L was evaluating his Kira suspect as a potential Wammy student, and he’d been quick to express his concern over the matter. L had quickly assured Watari that he didn’t actually believe Light to be Kira at all, and had only been using that as a ploy to better evaluate his Wammy potential. Watari had given him a pretty disapproving look at that…which L had promptly ignored. And that was it; Watari had believed him just like that.

Of course, L knew there was certain reasoning behind the fact that Watari had so easily believed him. Watari knew how interested L was in the Kira case, and he knew L hated to lose. In his mind, L would never give up an interesting case for any reason, and if L was honest with himself, he wasn’t totally wrong.

It was true that L was truly interested in the Kira case, it was a challenge and L loved challenges. But he also wasn’t truly interested in justice or bringing people to justice, as long as L got what L wanted he was satisfied. And what L wanted was Light, he wanted it even more than an interesting case. When it came to evaluating Light’s worth as a Kira suspect versus his worth as a Wammy’s student, L had reluctantly admitted to himself that Light was worth more in the latter sense.

He’d already figured out who the killer was, that was the most interesting part of any mystery novel, the only parts left were to figure out how he was doing it, and then prove it. And while L was still interested in the challenge of figuring out how Light was doing it, the challenge of having Light around more constantly, in his bed, and in his life was so much more appealing to L.

L had already decided to make Light a Wammy, even if he had to catch him out as Kira in order to force him to sign the contract. In fact, L might even prefer it that way; it would be a bit like having your cake and eating it too. But he’d offer Light a chance to sign the contract on his own first, fair was fair after all.

 

* * *

 

 

_A couple days later_

Dripping with sweat, and still gasping from the most intense tennis match of his life, L in was in no way regretting his decision to keep Light around. Light was also dripping with sweat and gasping, and he looked very sexy doing so. How one looked in the middle of physical exercise, L realized, was very like how one looked in the midst of sex.

Even more intense than the tennis match had been the mental sparring going on during the game. From the “friendly” way their talks had been going he knew that Light was about to ask him if he could join the Kira case. L knew that if he wanted to talk to him about the Wammy house opportunity, he’d have to intercept him before he got the chance to ask, since that would no doubt open up an entirely new phase to the game between them.

“Light-kun” L got his attention.

Light looked over to him in askance, still breathing heavily, L supposed he wasn’t used to exerting himself so much in order to win.

“To be honest, Light-kun, I suspect you of being Kira.”

And before Light could properly mask his shock from L’s blunt statement, he followed with; “But to be even more honest, Light-kun, I don’t particularly care.”

If his first statement had sent Light into a state of shock and suspicion, that was nothing compared to what the second did to him. Light was looking at him with an utterly bewildered expression, his mouth actually agape in surprise. Glorious, absolutely glorious, it was probably the only time in his life that Light had no idea on how to deal with the situation.

“L, no Ryuuzaki-, what? You don’t care if I’m Kira? Just what the hell are you up to you-“

“If Light-kun could be patient for just a moment, I’d like to have this conversation in a more private venue. I know a small café close by; let’s resume talking about this matter there.”

L could feel Light’s probing stare boring into his back as he led the way to the small campus café he’d discovered after the entrance ceremony a couple days before. He couldn’t help but wonder what Light was thinking at the moment, what possible outcomes he thought would come out of the conversation they were about to have. Whatever they were, he couldn’t possibly be correct, and the thought made L smile to himself. There was something fun about ruffling the feathers of someone as regularly composed as Light usually was.

After they’d arrived L made Light wait till they’d gotten their orders before broaching the subject. He didn’t know where to start; usually he got Watari to do the recruitment. It would be easier if he had a pamphlet or something, then Light could ask the difficult questions and all he’d have to do was answer them.

In the end, he didn’t have to worry about how to start because Light did it for him; “What exactly did you mean when you said you don’t care if I’m Kira? Are you saying that you actually support Kira’s actions? Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“From the very beginning I never supported or was particularly against Kira’s actions. I’ve always chose the cases I solved based on whether or not I was interested in the mystery. In this particular case, it was the mystery of the supernatural aspect of the killing that I was most interested in. If Kira was anyone other than Light-kun I would still be most interested in catching Kira, but since I know that Light-kun is Kira I am much more interested in him for a different aspect.”

Light was looking at him doubtfully “What other aspect?”

The he was back to where he started, unsure of how to say what needed to be said. “I run a side business and school which features boys with unique talents similar to those of Light-kun.”

“And what kind of school or business looks for people with talents like mine?” He both liked and hated that Light didn’t ask him what qualities L was referring to. It showed that he understood that the uncomfortable part of this conversation was the subject of the school. He liked how quick on the uptake Light was, he hated that it was rushing him to the part of the conversation that he just wanted to skip over.

“Let me ask you something Light, do you have a girlfriend?” That was a good way to start, if he could get Light to understand his reasoning for creating Wammy’s it would be a lot easier to ask him to join.

“I have several” he’d answered back cockily.

Ignoring the fact that such blatant overkill signified that Light was hiding something more in his life than just Kira he replied “Yes, but have you ever had just one girlfriend that you devoted all your attention to?”

“No…but why should I? I’m young and don’t need to worry about settling down.”

“It’s not about settling down, many people have several significant others before settling down and marrying the one person they liked best. I guess what I’m trying to ask you is whether you’ve met someone that you liked enough that you only wanted to be with them. ”

“Well, no…but-!”

“-I’m not judging you Light-kun I was merely trying to make a point that I understand why that is the case. It is difficult for both you and I as people of heightened intelligence to find stimulating enough conversation in another human being to like them like that…correct?”

Light nodded, looking relieved, which L took as a sign to continue; “The business I created revolves around that desire to find suitable people to have good conversation with.”

“So, basically it’s a place where people can go and pay to have a conversation with other intelligent people. It’s a good idea, kind of like a host club right?” Light looked both interested and impressed, that was a good sign. Unfortunately, his assumptions weren’t quite correct.

“Not exactly, Light-kun” L took a deep breath, this was the moment he’d been dreading “The school I founded is called Wammy’s and is a whorehouse for genius gay boys. The business part is obviously the whorehouse and meanwhile the school provides an education on both the seduction skills necessary for the job as well as a curriculum tailored to suit geniuses”

Light looked shocked but still wasn’t freaking out so L quickly continued on the conversation before he could.

“At first, I made Wammy’s to be a place specifically fashioned after my own wants and desires, that’s why it’s a whorehouse for males seeking out other males. Throughout the years, however, it’s grown into so much more than a place just for me though. Our clients range from many different successful people all over the world and so the curriculum has changed to accommodate all sorts of clientele. We are now able to match students who specialize in certain subjects with clients who are seeking that one thing in particular. Of course what I just spoke of only occurs in cases where I sell someone’s contract, many students choose to just stay at Wammy’s and continue to take clients there.”

He could tell he’d officially stunned Light into silence, he still wasn’t saying anything but there was also an underlying calculating glint in his eyes that showed that he was taking in what L was saying.

“There is only one available spot on this year’s class list, which I’ve been saving for Light-kun. I’m hoping what you’ll choose to do is sign the contract on your own, but in case you won’t I should probably warn you that I don’t just think you’re Kira, I _know_. All I have to do is find proof of this, and once I do I can and _will_ force you to choose between signing the contract and getting the death penalty for your crimes.”

Abruptly, L leaned over the table and brushed his lips over Light’s. Light immediately went bright red and his eyes widened even further than they already were.

“I’ll give you a week to come to me on your own with your answer, if you don’t come I’ll assume you’ve chosen to do this the difficult way and we’ll move on to the next stage of our little game.“

And with that, L walked away leaving Light to process his no doubt muddled thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is chapter one of a much longer fic, it’s the first thing I’ve written a in while so reviews would be appreciated; but aren’t necessary...I will keep writing nonetheless. I plan to update with a new chapter every Friday, so if this chapter interests you enough to want to read the rest you can check back then. The story idea came from a request over at the kink meme. I am the same anonymous person who posted this there…though I suppose a person could technically copy, paste, and say that even if it weren’t true. Thanks for reading! :)


	2. A Decision Made

Ryuk liked to think that he knew Light Yagami better than anyone else in the human world, probably because he was the only one amongst them who had ever seen Light's true face. And because he felt knew Light better than anyone else, he also thought he’d gotten a pretty good grasp at being able to tell what Light was truly feeling at any given time. But at that moment, he had no clue; he couldn’t even begin to guess.

Logically, he knew that the emotion that Light was most likely to be feeling at the moment was anger. Given what had just occurred in the café, it would make sense if he was feeling a mix of something in between furious and insulted. But Light was definitely not angry, he could tell that much at least, anger was the easiest emotion to read off the boy. Light was a human with a very large amount of pride and was also deceptively easy to infuriate. No, Light seemed almost as though he were…lost in thought.

“I don’t understand” Ryuk finally felt the need to voice his uncertainty out loud.

“I imagine there’s many things you don’t understand, Ryuk, I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific.” When they were out in public, Light spoke lowly and out of the corner of his mouth like he always did when they needed to talk.

Ryuk ignored the jibe; at this point he was more than used to Light’s strange lack of fear in speaking on equal terms with a god of death.

“Well, I was just thinking-“

That seemed to get Light’s attention enough to snap him out of his thoughts; “Now _I’m_ the one who doesn’t understand.” he said with raised eyebrows.

Ryuk growled; a little vexed “I was just thinking that, for a moment there, you seemed as if you were actually considering taking L up on his offer.”

Light sighed, apparently realizing that Ryuk was not going to drop the subject, and that their talk was not going to be as brief as he’d hoped. He immediately crossed over to the other side of the street, taking the longer, less populated route home to give them a bit of privacy.

As soon as they entered a nearly empty part of the park, Light raised an eyebrow at him. “Why shouldn’t I consider it Ryuk, it’s an offer with many advantages.”

“What advantages?”

“You heard what he said…didn’t you Ryuk? The clientele are people who, for whatever reason, are seeking out geniuses specifically.”

“Why is that an advantage?”

“It’s an advantage because you can assume that if a person is seeking out a genius in particular as a bed partner, then that the person is probably of relatively high intelligence themselves. And not just intelligent, they’re probably pretty wealthy as well. Wealthy, intelligent people always do really well for themselves, no matter what field they choose to go into. Just like how L is the world’s greatest detective, the other clients probably range from the world’s greatest CEOs and politicians to the world’s greatest surgeons and programmers, it may even include world’s greatest musicians and artists, since those are also forms of genius. Basically, being the highest up people in their given field also guarantees that they’ll be the most influential people in their various fields. In other words, they are cumulatively the most powerful people in the world. They’re the people who are currently ruling the world. ”

“Ah, I see” Ryuk was beginning to see why Light liked the idea, particularly because of the ‘ruling the world’ bit at the end, still…”But I don’t understand how it helps to be a prostitute if the clients are the ones with the power.”

“Ryuk, do you remember how am I always telling you how the world works?”

“The world is a place run by injustice and unfairness; it’s a place where the people who are in power rule the world with a grip that at first glance seems loose but is actually iron clad. The world is run through its social structure, which mainly consists of two things: money and popularity. The social structure is forged through connections, connections that can only be made through power. Having a lot of money or influence is one way to attain power; the other is through popularity or likeability. Once in a position of power people have the ability to alter the rules in their own favor just enough so that they stay in power, doing so in a way that’s just subtle enough that the common people never catch on.” Ryuk recited automatically, having memorized the entire spiel by now.

“Yes…but there is one phrase that basically sums all of that up into two words, it’s called ‘social networking’.”

“Okay…” Ryuk was getting confused again.

“Social networking is basically developing contacts that will provide you with information and any services you may require.”

“I…see?” Yup, he was definitely getting confused.

Light rolled his eyes at him “The world is run by people with power, power is made through connections, and there are two main ways to get connections: the first is to be born into them, also called money, and the second is to be likeable enough to gain them, also called popularity. People only want connections with other people with connections, that’s how people stay in power.”

Light continued on, seeing that Ryuk still didn’t understand completely “I’ll give you a couple of examples; my father is the chief of police, he’s basically as high up in the NPA as you can get. He’s exactly the type of person that the other, lower ranking, members of the NPA would want to make connections with. They’d want to do so because he’s so high up in his field that he has plenty of contacts that can help him out should he ever need it. People could make him one of their contacts in one of two ways: either by offering themselves as a contact if they themselves are useful for anything, or they could do it by becoming his friend, by being consistently friendly and polite towards him. However, because he can be a little soft, he’d probably exert his influence just because someone needed it, but the point is he could do either of those things if he wanted to.”

“Another example of this would be myself” Light continued to ramble on, just so the message really stuck. “I’m always kind and polite to everyone which results in me having a lot of friends, friends who will do things for me when I ask them to. Like when I needed a date for that bus ride, I could just call someone up and I knew they’d be there for me. Remember that popularity is also a form of power, so people who have other advantages, but don’t have a lot of friends, would want to be make connections with me so I could give that to them. And I’d have access to whatever other advantages they had to offer me in return. That’s what social networking is, do you understand now?”

“I do understand, Light…kukuku, so you think you can make connections with all these important people by becoming a prostitute and…giving them what they _need._ ” Ryuk totally cracked up, rolling through the air with laughter at the thought of where this was all heading. But he had to hand it to Light, the boy really was _always plotting_ , whenever something new came his way he seemed to always know how to turn it around and make it something that worked in his favor.

“Laugh if you want to, prostitution is just another form of social networking. If I can seduce girls to give me what I want, I should be able to do the same with boys. Even if I’ve never been with another male, it seems like the school aspect of L’s business would teach me everything I’d need to know to be able to succeed. Having all those important contacts at my fingertips could be huge for my aspirations as Kira.”

It sounded as if Light had basically already made up his mind, but there was one other thing Ryuk was still curious about. “It sounds to me as if you’ve already decided to do this, but haven’t you forgotten that sex for money is illegal?” Surely, Light hadn’t forgotten that he was supposed to be punishing criminals, not becoming one.

“It is and it isn’t Ryuk” Light sounded vaguely thoughtful again “What you have to consider is that there’s a difference between something that’s illegal because it’s truly bad, and will therefore be illegal forever, and something that is illegal for now because society isn’t evolved enough to accept it yet.”

“Women used to not have equal rights, it used to be legal to own slaves, aboriginals were sent to white schools to be stripped of their culture, in certain part of the world it became legal to capture Jewish people and send them to concentration camps, gays and lesbians used to be beaten to death if they were found with another person of the same gender. In many places all over the world these things still occur, but aren’t as prominent in more populated and socially evolved places.”

“Women couldn’t have equal rights because it was believed that women were too emotional to handle tough work. Having slaves was justified by certain research ‘apparently’ proving that people who weren’t Caucasian weren’t as intelligent. Aboriginal children were sent to white schools in order to force them to become productive members in white society. The Jewish were sent to concentration camps because a ruthless dictator who didn’t like them was given more power than he ever should have had. People who liked the same gender were beaten because religious beliefs told them it was evil to do so.”

“The point is that all these things occurred not because today’s people are any better than they were, they occurred because when society tells you to do something, you have a tendency to do it, without even considering for yourself whether or not it’s wrong.”

“Justice is difficult to pinpoint in the sense that there’s some things that are illegal, like prostitution and gay marriage, which should be legalized, and there are things like bullying and stalking, that aren’t morally right; but aren’t illegal either and should be made to be so. The justice that follows the letter of the law is exactly the justice I’m trying to overthrow for my own sense of justice. For Kira’s justice.”

“When I first became Kira, my goal wasn’t just to kill criminals in order to punish them for their crimes, it was also to protect the lives of all the world’s innocent people. In fact, I’d say it was even more about protecting innocents than anything else. The point of killing all those criminals was because they were interfering with people’s right to live their lives freely and without fear. The reason I would consider bullying and stalking to be crimes is because they’re things that ruin people’s lives, and make them live in a way that they can’t feel like they’re safe. By that same logic, the reason I wouldn’t consider prostitution and gay marriage a crime is that they ‘re things that don’t really hurt anyone.”

“And no, prostitution doesn’t hurt anyone; it’s a victimless crime. Prostitutes are actually more likely to _be_ the victims of rape and murder than anything, and legalizing it could help protect them from it. What’s actually ridiculous is that in the majority of countries in which prostitution is legal; it’s _illegal_ for places like brothels to exist. Brothels are the places that could _protect_ the prostitutes, _and_ the clients for that matter. Making it a legal business institution could lead to laws being made about everyone getting tested regularly for STD’s, and about getting security cameras and bodyguards installed into the damn places. That’s not even to mention that it’s considered to be an international multi-billion dollar industry and would be great for the economy.”

“So to answer your question Ryuk, yes I do realize it’s illegal, and no, I don’t really care. I don’t have issues with everyone who does illegal things, what I have a _problem_ with is people who act in a way that interferes with people just trying to live their own lives.” Light finished with a huff, which Ryuk guessed meant he was _finally_ done with his rant.

‘Light sure does have a way of making long, passionate speeches about things that are probably really important, but are too freaking _wordy_ for anyone to actually pay attention to.’ Ryuk thought, feeling somewhat exasperated.

“There’s just one other thing bothering me in that case.”

“Which is?” Light sounded somewhat annoyed too, and Ryuk supposed that speech had taken a lot out of him as well. They’d finally arrived at Light’s house, and Ryuk thought that probably all he wanted at that moment was to go in and unwind.

“How are you going to fake being attracted to other men? It’s not as though you’d just be kissing and fooling around with them a bit like you do with all those girls. You’ll actually be having sex with these people you know? I think they’ll notice when you’re not turned on, and I don’t think you’ll be able to fake it as many times as you’d have to.”

“Oh…that won’t be a problem, Ryuk.” Light said unconcernedly as he made his way to the front door.

“Why not?”

Light stopped and turned around slightly when he arrived at the front door, throwing Ryuk a sly smile over his right shoulder.

“Because I _am_ gay.”

Light entered the house, leaving Ryuk outside in a state of shock.

Then, suddenly the death god seemed to regain his bearings.

“WHAT?!?!?!”

 

* * *

 

 

Light was seven years old when he’d felt sexual attraction for the first time. He hadn’t realized it for what it was at the time, of course not, he’d been _seven_ years old.

He’d been out to see the cherry blossoms that year with his mother, which Light _hated_ because she’d been going through an odd phase at the time, and at least if his father was there he would have prevented it.

From the day he turned four up until the day in question, his mother had had a thing about dressing him in girl’s clothing…then taking multiple pictures of him going about his day in whatever she’d dressed him in that morning. He’d thought he’d gotten a bit of relief when his baby sister Sayu had been born, figuring his mother would have more fun dressing _her_ up instead. But that hadn’t worked, because his mother had been of the opinion that his sister wasn’t old enough for that quite yet. And so his suffering had continued.

Anyway, it had just been a regular day at the park for him with his mom; taking pictures of him wandering about the park in the blue yukata she’d dressed him in. He’d been grateful when she’d run off in search of a new roll of film, glad he could finally take a break and loosening his rigid posture.

When he turned around, that’s when he’d spotted _him_ for the first time. A boy he couldn’t really remember much of, save for a big pair of dark eyes. _Damn_ , what those eyes had done to him, what they still did to him now. The boys’ eyes had looked at him as though they could see right through him. It was the first time in Light’s life that he’d felt like he’d really been _seen_ ; it was the first time that-.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUR GAY!?!? SINCE WHEN?!?!” stupid Ryuk, he’d been right in the middle of a flashback, now it was going to take him forever to regain his train of thought…especially if the death god continued to interrupt him.

“Ryuk, would you rather have your explanation now, or would you prefer me to go downstairs and get you an apple first?” there, that should give him a bit more time to finish his backstory.

Ryuk looked as though he were seriously contemplating it, making Light aware, in a vaguely amused sort of way, that the god of death must have seriously wanted his answer. But in the end, of course Ryuk chose his apples. Light headed downstairs to grab them from the fridge.

Anyway, what had he been thinking- oh yes, it was the first time Light had felt like someone had really seen him, and it was the first time he’d felt that someone really _wanted_ him. Years later, and those eyes still left him with a thirst for attention and recognition that he just couldn’t seem to get anywhere else.

It had taken him a few moment of feeling breathless from the initial impact of the eyes for him to realize that the stranger had just called him a _girl_ , and that had _not_ been okay, so Light had punched the boy in the face for the “insult”. As one would say, an eye for an eye. But the other boy apparently hadn’t seen it that way, because the next second found him with a foot in his face, which had prompted Light to hit the boy again, and so on and so forth.

The fight had been pretty stupid, and they’d both ended up in the hospital for that stupidity. Then he’d found out the strange boy really had really thought he’d been a girl. This left him with the uncomfortable feeling that came with knowing that the first person Light had felt had seen the real him, hadn’t really seen him at all, and hadn’t that just been a bummer. At least the entire experience had got him out of ever having to don female clothing for his mother ever again.

Still, it was years later when he recognized the attraction he’d felt then for what it was. At the time though, Light had felt confused by the rush of heat he’d feel through his body when he thought about the eyes. He remembered how for months after the fact, he’d had trouble sleeping; tossing around and sweating through his clothing. It seemed as though every time he closed his own eyes, he’d see pitch black eyes looking back.

He’d had his first wet dream to those eyes, and subsequently, the first time he’d jacked off, he just kept thinking about those cursed eyes. All he could picture as he lay sweating on the sheets; pumping himself off quickly with his hand, was dark eyes watching him as he did so, feeling the boys’ ghost hands roving all around his body, teasing it with promises before they finally-.

-But he digressed, that wasn’t the point of his story, and it was starting to make him feel a little hot under the collar.

He’d battled with the attraction for ages, and had only admitted the truth to himself about a year ago. Since then, he’d dated a ton of girls to cover up his true sexuality, going as far as having multiple girlfriends at once, not even trying to hide the fact that he was doing so. Better to be thought of as a player rather than have anyone guess the truth.

He explained as much to Ryuk when he’d finally retrieved his apple, it wasn’t as if he’d been hiding it from him, he was just so used to hiding it from everyone else that he’d accidentally done so. Light would never admit it out loud, but it was nice having someone like the death god around to talk to. It could sometimes be exhausting pretending to be something he wasn’t. Exhilarating yes, he definitely got off on fooling everyone around him, but he wanted a break every once in a while too.

Light laid back onto the bed, staring at his socks as he contemplated his life; memories of the past, complications of the present, and new possibilities of the future. Truth is, all he wanted at the moment was to head over to L’s hotel to tell him he’d do it, but he knew he should think it over a bit more first. The last time he’d done something without thinking it over; he’d ended up with a pet death god…who ate apples…constantly.

He’d thought about all the pro’s in L’s offer, now what about the con’s?

First con, he’d probably have to give up his death note. People in the investigation, no matter what lies L was planning to tell them, would probably notice if the second he disappeared, the deaths stopped as well. And he couldn’t bring it with him either, who knew what kind of security cameras L had stashed around the school. First con would mean giving up Ryuk too, which Light reluctantly counted as the second con.

The third con he could think of was leaving his family, whom he really did love, albeit in a somewhat detached sort of way. He loved his mother’s quiet acceptance of him, having long gotten over her old habits. He loved his annoying little sister, and her mischievous demeanor that somewhat reminded him of his own. And most of all, he loved his father, his father who he respected, his father who he always tried so hard to emulate, his father who was the reason he was interested in justice, his father-.

“Light! LIGHT!! Your father’s just had a heart attack; we’re heading over to the hospital right now to see him.” His mother cried as she ran into the room.

-His father who apparently had almost died that day in a similar fashion to the way Kira usually killed his victims.

Light’s expression automatically turned serious as he got up off the bed.

“Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

 

When he got to the hospital, he hadn’t been expecting to run into L so soon. He’d told himself he needed more time to decide, but in his heart, he already knew his answer. Seeing L again certainly wasn’t helping him be rational though.

He swore he could still feel his lips tingling from their brief kiss earlier on.

He found him sitting beside his father’s bedside when he’d entered with his mother; he was in his usual odd crouching position. He’d figured that he and L would leave in order to discuss matters, leaving his mother and father with some alone time…when his father decided to address L.

“Ryuuzaki, I need to know, has my son been cleared of all suspicion regarding the Kira case?”

“Soichiro” Light’s mother interrupted worriedly “surely you can discuss this with Mr. Ryuuzaki at a later date? Your heart doesn’t need the extra stress at the moment.”

“Sachiko, at the moment my heart will only rest easy when Light is no longer a suspect.”

L, meanwhile, was looking thoughtfully over towards him, obviously trying to work out how to answer. If Light was going to say yes, it would be both a good time to clear his name and to lay the ground work for getting him out of there. If Light was going to say no, he’d have to say that his suspicions had been raised in order to put extra pressure on Light, and make it harder for him to move around. In the end, L presumably decided to go with a happy medium kind of answer.

“It is still unclear at this time Yagami-san” L stated in a monotonous tone which contrasted with his penetrating stare at Light with his next statement “Light-kun and I have a few details we still need to iron out between us before I can give you a proper answer.”

“Actually things are clear to me Ryuuzaki; nothing needs to be ironed out. I’ve already decided to go along with your suggestion.” There was no way Light was just going to sit there while L gave his father another heart attack, not when he knew how to respond.

L eyes were still locked with Light’s when Light gave his answer. The air grew thick with tension between them, and Light could feel himself shiver; L’s eyes were very dark. L seemed to contemplate his words for a full thirty seconds before he finally gave a little satisfied smirk and turned to Yagami senior.

“Yagami-san, I’m sorry to have worried you, it appears as though the matter has resolved itself.”

Light could tell that his father wanted to ask what was going on, he and his mother were obviously quite worried. But L, having already turned back around to look at Light, didn’t notice.

“Shall we speak in the hallway Light-kun?” L asked innocently.

“Of course”

The last thing Light heard as he walked out the door into the crowded hallway was L telling his father not to worry about it and that he should get some rest.

And Light’s father believed him, why shouldn’t he doubt it when the information came from the world’s greatest detective.

It suddenly occurred to Light that he had missed the best example he could have given Ryuk on the power of social networking.

 

* * *

 

 

“So is this for real? Have you truly made your decision? I’m surprised Light, I would have thought you had a bit more pride than that.”

‘Really? How annoying…L must be feeling pretty smug right now to have gone from threatening me into going along with all of this to taunting me about my answer.’ Light thought resignedly.

He decided to reply with something passive aggressive: “There wasn’t much need to give it a lot of thought, Ryuuzaki, your offer had certain…perks to it that I couldn’t ignore.”

There, let L decide what to make of that. Light knew his answer gave away his purpose behind accepting L’s offer, but he didn’t care; he was getting tired of being mocked, first Ryuk, now L, he endured quite enough for the day thank you very much!

He began to regret his decision to do so almost immediately, however, because for some reason L looked smugger than ever at his response.

“That’s unfortunate Light-kun” he said with a tone of regret in his voice.

He didn’t look like he thought it was unfortunate at all! Instead he was suddenly eyeing him with an almost predatory look which was sending jolts of electricity up and down Light’s spine. With a great amount of trepidation, since he had a feeling he was walking straight into the lion’s mouth, Light asked; “What’s unfortunate?”

“Well,” he spoke as he slowly advanced on Light, who refused to back away like he wanted to “as the owner of the establishment in which Light-kun wishes to take part, it is my duty to make sure my clientele is getting what they paid for.”

“Okay…” Light narrowed his eyes, he didn’t like where this was going.

“What I mean by that is if Light-kun is only joining in order for a chance at social networking with my clients, it is my duty as the owner of Wammy’s to test him to make sure said clients get a body that is just as interested in them as a mind.” L had gotten very close by now, whispering his words to him in a way that was causing hot air to ghost over his lips.

Damn him to hell! He’d planned this trap for him from the very beginning when he’d first insulted Light’s pride, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist playing it cool!

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep with L; he just hated the fact that it was occurring because he’d been manipulated into it.

He ignored the unpleasant shock he got when he realized that he wanted to sleep with L, _when had that happened_.

When he replied however, Light made sure to keep the nervousness out of his voice by disguising it with his usual cockiness:

“Alright, I suppose I can understand the logic there, when were you thinking we’d do this?”

“Right now would work best, actually. There are still a few things I will need to get done in the next couple days before our departure.”

L had backed off after Light had responded and had begun walking away as he spoke his own words.

He followed L for a short while in silence, soon he noticed a limo parked off to the side of the parking lot that L seemed to be heading towards.

L really did have this all planned out.

Knowing what was going to happen next, and partly wishing he didn’t, Light got into the car; L holding the door to car open for him like the gentleman he _wasn’t_.

Whether he’d made the right decision, Light didn’t know; he just hoped he wouldn’t come to regret it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a couple things I need to say here:  
> 1) No matter how many times I re-wrote this, I couldn’t be satisfied with the result, so I’m feeling kind of blargh at the moment. Oh well, next chapter is all smut, just fyi.  
> 2) This story is rated M(ature)for a reason, not just for the smut and the bits of kink later on, but also because of potentially controversial messages and themes that are within the story. Like this chapter, for instance, that contains a message which supports the legalization of prostitution.  
> 3) I’m sorry to anyone that wanted Light to give a different answer but I chose the one I did for a number of reasons:  
> \- I thought about it, and decided that in the end, it would be more in character for Light to go along with L’s suggestion, for reasons listed in the story.  
> \- This story is already going to be long enough as it is…which is anywhere from 50-75 chapters, all about 5000 words.  
> \- The point of this story takes place at Wammy’s, so anything that happens before that is (unfortunately) needed backstory.  
> 4) I do have other stories on the way, but I won’t start posting them until I’ve gotten to about chapter 10 here.  
> 5) Argh, I wrote too much…I apologize; I’ll try not to do so again.


End file.
